Day 1: Isle de la Réunion

This post is long overdue.  But the excuse is fantastic!  I spent three weeks in Madagascar and the Isle de la Réunion.  Most of that time was spent orchid hunting—with my camera of course.  After spending more than 24 hours en route, I arrived in Isle de la Réunion for the International Orchid Conservation Congress’ 5^th meeting.  The lectures, presentations and meeting merit their own blog post—which is forthcoming.  But of course, a gathering of orchid-lovers wouldn’t be complete without some orchid field trips.  This post will cover just the first day of orchid hunting in Réunion.  So stay tuned for more. 

First field trip:  Sentier de la Riviére and Sentier des Mares et Bois de Couleurs

The forest itself was absolutely incredible.  Everywhere you looked there was another, beautiful, tropical vista.  It was stunning.  There were several angraecoid orchids in bloom and numerous others that had pods, spent flowers or were just growing happily. 

Beclardia macrostachya seemed to be on every horizontal branch and tree trunk.  They were not in bloom, but it was very interesting to see this unusual species in situ. 

Jumellea triquetra seemed to be in bud everywhere, but it wasn’t until the end of the day that we found one in bloom.  This species is endemic to Réunion and quite lovely. The flowers’ presentation reminds me a little of snowbells.  I didn’t notice a fragrance during the daytime, but most of the books note that this species has a delightful fragrance.

 

Angraecum cordemoyi has small greenish-white flowers.  It seemed to be in bloom around every bend.

Angraecum costatum was hiding in plain sight—on top of a low lying tree trunk.  To photograph it, I had to climb up on a neighboring tree and crawl my way over on the trunk.  This is a species I haven’t ever seen before, even in photographs.  So to see it in situ, in bloom was a treat. 

Angraecum obversifolium was also in bloom.  This is another fairly small-flowered species.  Each flower is about 1 cm and is an almost translucent green. 

And finally, although not an angraecoid, Calanthe sylvatica was also in bloom.  That color is just spectacular. 

And this was just on the first day!  I will keep sorting through the 2000+ photographs from this trip and update this blog with more in situ orchid photos.